New alleged Nokia document hints at post Windows Phone 7.8 update and more

We’ve known for quite some time that despite what a lot of the doom-and-gloomers out the have said, Windows Phone 7 is far from dead. Between Windows Phone 7.8 coming out and Nokia who keeps churning out all sorts of neat additions to the OS, people with 7.x phones still have reason to be satisfied.

A new leaked slide from a 25-page Nokia PowerPoint deck may make things even better, if we’re not reading too much into it. (This will be the second Nokia PowerPoint presentation to have leaked in recent days.) The slide, attained by WPArea.de, shows a timeline with Windows Phone 7.x being overlapped by Windows Phone 8. There we see the familiar Mango --> Tango --> Windows Phone 7.8 progression but there is another box after 7.8 that simply states “Windows Phone 7.x”...

Microsoft may not even have plans for a post-7.8 update but we see little reason why Nokia would include such a box after 7.8 if there weren’t something there. They could have very well have ended with 7.8 and Windows Phone 8 would have continued the future of the OS.

The other interesting bit about the timeline is how 7.8 comes after Windows Phone 8—something we’ve known since June—but it will come before the first set of Windows Phone 8 updates. That leads us to the another curious aspect: “Windows Phone 8 updates” as in more than one. That can either mean that yes, WP8 will of course have a long life with many general updates over the next few years or it could mean we will have numerous smaller updates that trickle out over the next few months.

Such a system is already in place as detailed in our earlier post on how over-the-air (OTA) updates work on Windows Phone 8. Some of those updates will be small at less than a megabyte, while others will range up to “extra large” at over 150MB. All in all, there are five different size-levels of potential updates for Windows Phone 8 and we couldn’t help but think Microsoft would not have made such distinctions were they not planning on using them.

Windows Phone 8 in theory could have a vibrant future of many updates ranging from small patches to full OS updates. That’s the dream of many smartphone users who are now buying into the system but it remains to be seen if that is what actually occurs, especially with carriers running interference. The other conclusion we can tentatively draw is that Windows Phone 7 may also have more life left in it that previously thought. Now we just anxiously await that 7.8 update, which is expected in the next few months. Fingers crossed.

I see Nokia updating there lineup to irrelevancy. Sucks for the people that got their second fen focuses. Samsung is horrible at getting updates out and add that to the ATT wait, I would expect most people would be able to upgrade before they get any updates after 7.8 if they do come to exist.

softwareupdates like mango, tango, 7.8 are not device related so if there is an upgrade for nokia an HTC and samsung and all other can upgrade it too. Beside that there will be guys which download the .cab files which are the upgrade and you can manually install this upgrade...

I already got my Lumia 920, and it's a great update from my 900. But most things will eventually be updated on the 900 to come close to the 920. Even my most longed after item - the custom EQ that's included in the 920. Still, I'm quite pleased & will be happy for at least a year. I think you'd luv the 920!!!

Notice I said on the smartphone front? WP8 is based on the NT kernel. Windows CE 8 is only used in embedded devices, such as cars systems and such. So it's not too unbelievable that Microsoft may have shared the older version of CE with Nokia (exclusive partnership?).

I finally saw the 920 today at a local AT&T store. It wasn't as heavy or bulky as some blogs have it made out to be. My local store only had one left, in white. I'm waiting for Black Friday to see if any deals pop up.

I saw a super hot Asian girl carrying Nokia lumia 920 in a WalMart store. The Verge guys are wuss and should start working out. I literally wanted to ask her to take her picture so I can post it at every website who has been saying that its super heavy. Oh God, why did I shy away, it would have been a damn hot picture to show around.
Where are windows phone fan chicks? Why don't they show their power to the VERGE? I know Jessica Alba can handle it quite easily but still, we need more real girl's pictures. People think Jessica Alba is being paid to carry it so its a different story.

Right. I have the original Focus and I bitched at At&t several times for not releasing the 8107 update. Fortunately, I have 929 now but the Focus still has uses. An update would be welcomed. That whole situation sucked.

Attention USERS: You have been chosen to form a covert ops team to inflitrate Nokia or MS and push the damn "RELEASE 7,8" button! Then you will proceed to the roof where you will parachute off the building while fireworks are going off in the background!!! Please reply if you accept this mission.
This message will self destruct in 7.8 seconds.
(Poof) (Smoke)
..
"You know who else wants the 7.8 update? MY MOM!!!" - Muscle Man

My contract will be up in six months. I have zero faith Samsung will have put out any sort of update for my Focus S By then. That's why I'll be buying a Lumia 920 instead of the Ativ S that I like better.

WP7.8 isn't an official term but made up by devs and users (WP7.5 is official but 7.8 not used by the creators/Microsoft) At least that's how I think it is.... (sent with HTC Titan OS 7.10.8835.35 called WP7.5!!!!!!)

It is the official term, Microsoft unveiled it as WP7.8. The naming convention has nothing to do with the actual version number, it's more a statement of where the OS is in its own timeline. It's fairly obvious that WP7.8 has been named as such to leave room for a 7.9 in future.

All good news here. Not moving to AT&T, so the 920 is out. Not investing in midrange - I will stick with my Trophy. Not sure when I will see the Surface or 922 at Verizon. 7.8 on the Trophy until then would be nice. 7.8 would also be a good way to keep non-upgrade customers enthusiastic about moving to WP8. ESPECIALLY all of those who jumped on the Lumia and Titan II 7.5 devices.

I cannot see what the big hold up is all about, surely 7.8 should be ready now!. Its like forget everyone with 7.5 we dont matter, some of us cannot afford to upgrade or buy a new windows 8 phone. Come on microsoft get it sorted.

Well it could be that the WP team was finishing up WP8 for release. and now that, that is out there they are going to move on to finishing up WP7.8. They RTMed WP8 back in the summer, and then probably started working on 7.8. I think we should just be patient and wait for them to release a finalized super awesome update.

From a software development point of view, any update post 7.8 is most probably a maintanence release.
Development for a particular build never ends until the Service Level Agreement (SLA) ends, which is about a decade for most MS products?
This means security fixes are bound to popup post 7.8
Not really an upgrade path.